Noise Ordinance Amendment

Update: Recent Activities and Upcoming Events

On February 18, 2014, staff presented the first draft of a new
Noise Ordinance (Chapter
108.1 of the
County Code) to the Board of Supervisors' (Board's) Development
Process Committee. The overall goal of the proposed Noise Ordinance
is to minimize nighttime noise and guarantee residents a certain level of
quietness within their homes. The proposed new Noise Ordinance
would replace both the existing Noise Ordinance (Chapter 108) and
the existing Excessive Sound Generation in Residential Areas and
Dwellings provisions (Article 6 of Chapter 5 of the
County Code). The Excessive Sound Generation in Residential
Districts provisions were adopted by the Board on December 3, 2013 and a
brief description of the amendment is located here.
Among other things, the new Noise Ordinance prohibits certain
noises and exempts certain other noises.

In order to obtain feedback on the proposed new Noise Ordinance,
the following public meetings were held:

Wednesday, May 7, 2014 from 7 - 9 p.m. at South County Government
Center, 8350 Richmond Highway, Alexandria, VA 22309, in the
Main Conference Room (SCC221)

On June 10, 2014, staff presented a summary of
all comments received to the Board's Development Process Committee.
At that meeting, the Committee directed staff to prepare a range of
options on how the proposed amendment could be advertised to give the
Board maximum flexibility given the diversity of opinions and comments on
the proposal. On September 30, 2014, staff presented options to the
Development Process Committee and the Committee requested that the
options be reduced in scope and noise measurements be taken at high
school athletic events.

At the February 3, 2015, Development Process Committee meeting, staff
distributed an updated draft Noise
Ordinance amendment and summary
chart and requested guidance on several issues. These included
activities on school and recreational grounds, weekend hours for dog
parks, "people noise," golf course lawn maintenance, trash
collection, and maximum sound levels in residential districts. The
Committee endorsed the updated draft amendment as proposed by staff, with
a few modifications, and directed staff to bring the proposed amendment
back to the full Board for authorization to advertise a public hearing.
With the understanding that additional modifications to the staff
proposed amendment can be made as part of the public hearing process, the
Committee recommended the following modifications to the staff proposal
for advertising purposes:

Activities on School and Recreational Grounds -- Advertise a decibel
range of 60 to 72 dBA for limiting the maximum noise level for
cumulative noise, when loudspeakers are used.

"People Noise" -- Begin prohibition on plainly audible standard
in residential districts at 11:00 p.m. on weekends and the day before a
holiday.

Operation of Power Lawn Equipment -- Permit the use of power lawn
equipment, except leafblowers, beginning at 5:30 a.m. for golf course
maintenance when located more than 50 yards from a residence.

Trash Collection -- No changes to current proposal.

Maximum Sound Levels -- No changes to current proposal.

Accordingly, staff will bring the proposed Noise Ordinance amendment to
the Board in early spring for authorization to advertise, with the
anticipated date of a public hearing to occur in May 2015.

Background

The Board has requested staff to review and revise the Noise Ordinance
to better address the methodology used in noise measurements, considering
the appropriateness of establishing daytime and nighttime noise levels to
protect the community and, add other objective criteria to regulate noise
within Fairfax County. On December 3, 2013, the Board adopted a new
Article 6 of Chapter 5 of the County Code (Excessive Sound Generation in
Residential Areas and Dwellings) which gave the Police Department the
ability to address certain sound that is generated in a residential
dwelling or residential area that is plainly audible and discernible
inside another person's dwelling with doors and windows closed. The
recently adopted Article 6 was intended to be an interim step in
addressing noise, until more comprehensive amendments to Chapter 108 were
considered by the Board. The proposed amendment is in response to
these requests.